Curtain Calls For All

By: Ben B.

Spring is here, and Thespian Troupe 355 is up to something. Each year, the drama department hosts the festival of plays, which is called Spring Fest. This year’s Spring Fest takes place later this month.

Spring Fest is not a standard play competition. This year the three plays are “Radium Girls”, “She Kills Monsters”, and “University”. In other drama festivals, the casts are separated by grade, however Spring Fest steps away from that. Senior actor Thomas Farias said, “Spring Fest is all as one. You audition and the directors cast who they want in roles, regardless of the grade.”

Spring Fest is the last Drama event of the year, and so it is the last chance to see some of the programs premiere faces before they graduate. This is the last chance to see veteran actors such as Thomas Farias, Celia Borghesani, Hannah Shiel, and Duncan Passel.

This time around Passel is in the show “Radium Girls”. When asked about the plot of the show, Passell said; “In the 1940’s groups of girls worked in paint factories that left them with overexposure to radium, which is radioactive. And so the play is about a group of people who protected the girls from their companies.”And yes, there is some social commentary.

Though Passell is a leading face now, he spent a majority of high school working behind the scenes. ”Primarily I’m a backstage guy and I build the sets” Passel said.Another student who traditionally works backstage but is moving front and center is sophomore Will Kelso. “This year I’m usually on stage crew, I think it’s fun. But now I am in the Spring Fest production of “Radium Girls” as an actor”, Kelso said.

Spring Fest allows kids who aren’t full time actors to have some time on stage for experience. It also allows for some of the younger actors to make a splash and show off their potential for next year. There are several names that are floating around to step up and shine, so this year look for actors such as freshman Julia Wonka, sophomore Peter Natalie, sophomores Grayce Tate, and Ellie Murphy.

While this could be her big break as an actress, Ellie Murphy is not new to the kids in the drama department. In this year’s Spring Fest Murphy is in the show “She Kills Monsters”. While she is no doubt preparing for that, Murphy is also the head of the makeup department and she is in the publicity department. In terms of what publicity does, Murphy said, ”for publicity we paint the signs that go outside of the library and the parking lot that announce the shows.”

Another major actress in “She Kills Monsters” is Grace Goodell. This year, Goodell is the narrator of the show, and in terms of the plot Goodell said, “it’s about a girl who’s sister killed herself, and she wants to get to know more about her sister… And she learns a lot about her sister in some interesting and unexpected ways.”

One last actress who has some hype surrounding her is junior Amanda Lawrence. Lawrence was pegged by many to be the star of the show, and it seems she is humble, but ready to take on the role. “Yeah… I mean why not? I’m going to go for it”, Lawrence said. Lawrence will be playing Tillie, which is a main role in this years play “She Kills Monsters”.

The final play of the festival is as unique, if not more so than the others. The show is called University, and when asked about the show, Celia Borghesani explained it as; “ The show I am in is actually three ten minute pieces from the script compendium called “University.” My specific scene is called the “Budapest String Quartet”, Borghesani said. In her specific scene Borghesani plays the tooth fairy, in what will be her final role in a long and distinguished Duxbury Drama career. This show features two other scenes and is directed by Iva Briggs and Mr. Aukerman.

While Spring Fest isn’t for another few weeks, Thespian Troupe 355 is hard at work making sure they put on the best festival they can. The drama department recommends getting tickets as soon as they are available, and they say this show will be something special.